by Andrea Miller
The University of Alaska Fairbanks School of Management awarded $30,000 in cash prizes after the 2018 Arctic Innovation Competition’s final presentations Saturday, Oct. 20.
The competition, now in its 10th year, invites innovators to propose new, feasible and potentially profitable ideas for solving real-life problems and challenges.
The top prize of $10,000 in the main division (ages 18 and up) was awarded to Joshua Resnick for Parallel Drones. His project extends flight times and payload capability in drones, allowing them to make rural deliveries, conduct wildlife tracking and help fight wildfires.
Among the record 65 junior division entries from youth ages 13 to 17 years old, Grace Sikorski took home the first prize of $1,000 for Thermal Battery. It stores energy for long periods using a large-scale heat sink built into the foundation of a house.
In the cub division for youth ages 12 and under, Josephine Wheat won first place and $500 for Space Clothes, her idea for putting space blankets inside of clothing to keep body heat from escaping.
Top prize and honorable mention winners in the three divisions came from communities across Alaska — Anchorage, Fairbanks, North Pole, Valdez and Wasilla — and from as far away as Cranbury, New Jersey; Ben Lomond, California; and Whitehorse in Canada’s Yukon. A complete list of winners is available on the AIC website.
